


Sometimes Boys are Sad (OneShot)

by Balthoron



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Other, Unreliable Narrator, fight me darn it, god seriously its daniels point of view and it makes me angry, pretty fucking gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-12-31 19:36:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12139599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Balthoron/pseuds/Balthoron
Summary: David's a sad boy, but vessels aren't supposed to be sad, now are they?Daniel doesn't understand human emotion that well, or rather, he doesn't know how to respond to such.





	Sometimes Boys are Sad (OneShot)

Daniel didn’t know love.

Daniel stared down at his hands, a frozen coldness to his gaze. Despite his smile? His eyes were hiding something… something..? It was hard to explain, not anger, nor sadness- perhaps disappointment? Disappointment in himself? Disappointment in someone else? Why… Why was he like this? Why was he forced into this situation? All these thoughts were flying through his head as he stood frozen in the doorway. Frightened eyes stared back at him however, a shaky form crouched down near the far wall.

“You’re…. You’re killing it. You’re killing the only body you have, aren’t you?”

Daniel hadn’t noticed the words had slipped out until it was too late to take them back. He didn’t dare take back these words however, gaze finally rising to face the terror on the face of the brunette. Why was this happening to him? Why was he the first one to find out? Why couldn’t it- why couldn’t it have been Gwen or at least someone more qualified to deal with this? What did daniel do to cause this..?

“D-Daniel, you should go back and join the campers, I’m fin-”

“No you’re not David?! I’m not an idiot, you’re destroying yourself.”

The words came out cold and harsh, like a punch in the gut to the camp counselor. Hell, Daniel himself hadn’t found out about this until mere days ago. Oh boy, when he did…

His gaze hadn’t left David. Not for a moment.

Still as the white-clad male approached the crouching figure, he noted David’s fear. He noted David’s trembling. Involuntary trembling. He was weak, clearly- it didn’t take a genius to see that. The cult leader knew what weakness was, the differences between them.

David needed help.

They broke him and beat him, and break he did. They took him from Daniel. Skin as white as chalk, limbs weak, it was almost alarming to see such a nature loving individual in such a horrid state. It was almost like he was drifting in the grey vast between living and dead- it..

It scared Daniel.

Still after the statement had came out, both men were frozen where they were. Daniel; fists clenched, smile wavering, resisting the urge to shake sense into the camp counselor. David? David was a mess. Sure it wasn’t immediately noticeable, but bags were present under his eyes. He was tired, exhausted and even slept through his alarm the past night. David never slept through his alarm. Never. And Daniel knew that.

He knew from the beginning something was wrong.

“Daniel you're.. you're overreacting. Honestly I'm flattered, but I'm fine-”

Daniel stepped closer at that, causing David to immediately stop what he was saying. David was growing somewhat defensive… was he scared? Scared of being found out? Of someone realizing what he'd been doing? Of someone..

Trying to help him?

“David. You’re not fine. You may fool the campers, but I’m not stupid.”

 

Daniel took a few more steps towards David, causing the counselor to get to his feet almost instantaneously. The look on his face was almost unreadable- angry? Sad? Some mixture of the two? Daniel for once couldn’t tell. This wasn’t fear, not entirely. It was something new, something burning and aching and tearing away at your stomach sort of feeling. The kind of feeling you get when you’re trying so hard to hold back tears because you’re unbearably distraught and appalled with yourself and just want to explode from your heart outwards. Yeah. That feeling. The feeling that didn’t have a name. Egh.

Still as Daniel reached out towards David, the counselor only looked away, brows furrowed and frown tightening. Had the situation been different, he almost looked stern. But David wasn’t stern. Not here and not now. 

“David you can’t ignore me, no matter how much you want to. Tell me what you did.”

“It’s not-”

“David I told yo-”

“For heavens sake can you let me get a sentence out?!” That snap made Daniel instinctively retract his hand, noting the red beginning to tint David’s cheeks. The ugly, blotchy red that only rears its head when someones about to cry. The red of emotion. Something Daniel hadn’t seen in a long time.

Still he stayed quiet, letting David take a few shaky breaths before continuing.

“Daniel I… I know what it looks like, and I know what you think it is, but I’ll be okay. I just-” He coughed a bit, inhaling sharply before continuing, “Sometimes… People need to hurt. They need to hurt to remind them. To uh… To feel. Sometimes people just need to spend time hurting and feeling to get it all out while they still can. I’m not going to sink Daniel, I just needed to remember. I just..”

He held his head in his hands, waiting a moment before looking back up. Life was difficult and complicated. The cult leader wasn’t sure how to handle this. Did he just get lectured by David, of all people? Did he just get a moral? This felt awful. He didn’t want to be told he couldn’t do anything to help, to do anything to make David not…. This. whatever it was. Skipping meals and crying in private and just watching the sky for minutes at a time without rhyme or reason to the action. It confused Daniel, the man who’d never felt such strong feelings towards anything.

Since now.

Still as they made complete eye contact, Daniel didn’t think before acting.

An echoing noise seemed deafening in such quiet, both men frozen where they stand after it was carried out. A deep, red mark now graced David’s cheek. A handprint to be exact. Daniel remained stone faced, cold and misunderstanding. David, head tilted slightly to the side, now stared at Daniel with a mixture of… something. Confusion, betrayal probably. Daniel didn’t know.

It stung.

His hand hurt, his stomach hurt, his legs felt wobbly and his heart felt too full and too hot and too much emo t i o n. 

Why did his cheek feel wet?

He’s-

He’s crying.

Daniel didn’t realize what was going on any more, blood roaring in his ears as he rushed forward once more. David, whilst bracing for another impact, seemed to shrink in the mans shadow. 

But there was no impact.

Just gentle arms making their way around David. gentle, cold arms. Daniel didn’t say anything more, simply holding the counselor as best he could. God he was bad at this. Bad at comfort, bad at interaction in general, bad with people. What surprise was it was to feel David tense, nearly shuddering away from the touch. The touch of a madman, a clean, spotless mad man. The touch of someone who wanted him dead.

 

A touch devoid of warmth, of care. It was almost frightening to David.

And soon enough, he hit a rather terrifying realization.

 

“David, you-”

“Don’t touch me.”

Daniel backed off, letting go of David with some instance of regret, perhaps remorse? Still the head counselors expression read something similar to a forced stern reaction, David himself looking like he was about to cry. The idea of his reaction being entirely forced somewhat comforted Daniel, who tucked his hands behind him in a neat duck tail as David continued.

“You don't understand my situation, you don't.. you don't get it enough okay? Please, just let me handle this on my own.”

Handle the guilt and regret of letting a friend die.  
Handle the stress and lack of motivation he's forced to suffer.  
Handle the constant berating and insults that fly at him.

Sometimes you just lose motivation to care about yourself. Sometimes it hurts.

And Daniel didn't understand that. Daniel couldn't comprehend what David was trying to deal with. Daniel didn't know shit when it came to this mans emotions and internal conflict. Daniel can't figure out anything that David was going through and trying to handle. But Daniel thought he did.

He was wrong. 

Daniel didn't like being wrong.

Heeding David's advice, he backed away, back towards the door as a flash of something akin to disgust filled his expression. Something… something sinister. Something vengeful. David had shielded himself once more from Daniels probing and attempts to get close, perhaps for his own good?

After all, little vessels aren't allowed to starve themselves.

Little vessels aren't allowed to stay up at night contemplating why they still exist.

Little vessels aren't supposed to think. Little vessels aren't supposed to feel. Little vessels aren't supposed to care.

And Daniel was trying to ‘fix’ that in David. 

David was a vessel.

A vessel who was slowly beginning to catch onto it. 

 

He knew Daniel didn’t actually care, call it a hunch, a gut feeling- but it was the same sort of cold feeling he’d felt before. David should’ve known. David should’ve known a long time ago-

 

But a doubt was never a reason for him to turn a friend away.

Even if it threatened his own safety.

Even if it threatened his life.


End file.
